Between 8am and 9 am on Wednesday Norwegians consumed 24.180 Megawatt-hours. This is the highest recorded consumption of electricity ever, national main grid owner Statnett reports.

The last weeks have been cold in Norway, especially in the southern and south-eastern parts of the country.

The high consumption does not affect the stability of the grid, as the production capacity in winter time is 27.400 Megawatt-hours, Director of Statnett Øivind Rue says. Statnett has nevertheless started upgrading the grid:

-We see that consumption is fairly high when the weather is cold and we see that the peaks get higher and higher every year. We have to be prepared for even higher peaks in el-consumption in the future.

The previous record – set on Januar 6 2010 – was a little less than 24.000 Megawatt-hours.